Essay Writing Essentials

While you are encouraged to use your natural voice,
avoid highly colloquial usage , such as "The ending
blew my mind" or "Her awesome sense of humorâ?¦"
Avoid passive construction, such as "irony can be seen
inâ?¦" or "a definite freedom was evidenced
inâ?¦," which makes writing feel stiff and
pompous. Instead, write, "the reference to her brother's
saintliness is ironic" or "the seemingly random association of
images suggests freedom."

The convention in writing about literature is to discuss
actions from a work in
present tense, as if they were happening right now:
"Joyce creates a melancholic mood with images of night and
isolation." Or, "When Marlow first sees Kurtz,
heâ?¦."

Use
transitional words or phrases to connect parts of your
argument (e.g., therefore, furthermore, nevertheless,
consequently, however, similarly, by contrast, rather, instead,
as a result, on the other hand, for example, etc.). These are
SIGNPOSTS that help the reader follow the thread of your
argument. Remember, these words can begin a sentence or can
connect two independent clauses using the following
punctuation: "Woolf's writing can be highly sarcastic and
playful; however, in
To The Lighthouse , the tone is somber and elegiac."
Instead of "So" or "Also," use more formal phrases: "It is
clear, then, that Marlow lies to himself on at least one
occasion"; "This passage confirms that Marlow isn't honest with
himself."

TEXTS :

Introduce the text you're writing about in the beginning of
your essay by mentioning the author's full name and the
complete title of the work. Titles of books should be
underlined or put in
italics . (Titles of stories, essays and poems are in
"quotation marks.") Refer to the text specifically as a novel,
story, essay, memoir, or poem, depending on what it is.

In subsequent references to the author, use his or her
last name. If the title is very long and you are
making numerous references to it, you can refer to it by a
shortened version. i.e., "A Perfect Day For Banana Fish" can
become "Banana Fish."

Don't begin with vast generalizations like "Within every
human being there are unique thoughts and feelings that no
other person has ever experienced before." Or, "Color symbolism
is found in all great pieces of literature." These "from the
dawn of time" statements point to a lack of focus or (public
enemy number one) a vague thesis.

In most cases, it's best to state your main idea - your
thesis - in the first or second paragraph, so that
your reader knows right away what it is that you're going to
argue.

BUILDING AN ARGUMENT :

Don't
evaluate the quality of the writing ("Faulkner's use
of symbolism, narration, word choice, and characterization made
this a powerful novel.");
analyze and
interpret instead. You're not writing a review, where
evaluation is appropriate; you're writing criticism (which
isn't necessarily critical, but analytic). Avoid comments such
as "I likedâ?¦" or "I was confused
byâ?¦." Don't refer to your own process of
investigation. Instead of writing "I couldn't find a beginning,
climax, end in â??The Mark On The Wall,'" (which tells
your readers about you instead of the text), you might write
"'The Mark On The Wall' dispenses with the traditional
beginning-climax-end story structure."

Avoid plot summary at all costs !! It's sometimes hard
to resist the desire to rehash a novel's plot. However,
remember, in academic writing it is assumed that your audience
is familiar with the text. Make sure you're writing an
argument, not simply a plot summary.

Evidence. Evidence. Evidence . It's fine to make a
point, such as "the first memoir seems rambling and aimless,
while the second is tightly structured." But then you must
provide examples that support your points. Continue on with,
"For example, in â??Reminiscences', Woolf discusses her
mother in several places, sometimes repeating herself,
sometimes contradicting her previous statements. Twice Woolf
tells us that her motherâ?¦.."

Determine what the text says. Don't read your own
assumptions into the text, as in: "The speaker must be a man
because women wouldn't act so insensitively." Instead, you
might say, "The speaker seems to be male because the cursing
and the news of the war was more likely the province of men
during the early 20 th Century." Instead of a statement such
as, "The author shows the pride Americans feel in their
freedom," you can more accurately say, "The author is writing
about Americans who are proud of their freedom."

The paper should discuss your observations about the text.
You may want to consider the following, which is by no means a
complete description of either the elements of style or their
definitions. Not all of these will be appropriate for every
discussion. But having thought about these elements, you should
be able to draw conclusions (create an argument, an
interpretation) about the overall significance of the text as
you understand it.

structure: is it loose and rambling? Tightly structured?
Is there a climax and denouement? How are the parts of the
story connected?

plot and character development : what do we know of
the "story" and of the characters?

symbolism – sometimes a cigar is only a cigar,
and sometimes not.

point of view – how do different characters
see things? What's the author's view?

setting – is place important? How is it
described? What role does it play?

QUOTING :

Use quotations to support your argument or
interpretation. (Note that writers make
statements , not
quotes ; something isn't a "quote" until you've
copied it out, so you never say, "The author quotes." Instead
you say, "The author says..." or "the author
writesâ?¦"

Don't expect quotations to make your point for you.
Rather, use your own language to make your argument; use the
quote as evidence that will support what you have to
say. Before or after the quote, connect it to your
argument using your own words: eg., As Gilbert and Gubar
argue in
The Madwoman in the Attic .

Don't incorporate the page number of a quotation as part
of your sentence: "On page 116 the author makes reference..."
because you don't want the page number to be the emphasis of
the sentence. Write, rather, "The author makes reference
to..."

If everyone is writing on the same text, cite the passage
you want to quote by giving the page number in parentheses
after it: "She told Christmas about the graves" (248).
Note where the period is.

The MLA rules (used in most literary criticism) on
quotation marks are these:

If you use more than three exact words from your
source, you must put them in quotation marks.

If, within those quotation marks, you must use other
quotation marks to indicate direct speech, the author's own
quoting, or to refer to the title of the story, use single
quotation marks: "For example, in â??Reminiscences',
Woolf discusses her mother in several places."

If you add words to a quotation, put brackets around
them; if you omit words, use ellipses to indicate them.
Example: Brunvand states: "some individuals [who retell
urban legends] make a point of learning
everyâ?¦tale" (78).

If your quotation is more than four lines of prose or
three lines of verse, you set it apart from the flow of the
text by indenting it ten spaces on the left and continue
double spacing. Note: when indenting a quote, you do not
need quotation marks around the blocked quotation. Use
"double quotation marks" within the blocked quotation for
direct speech or a title. Here's an example from Adrienne
Rich's "Sources."

The faithful drudging child

the child at the oak desk whose penmanship,

hard work, style will win her prizes

becomes a woman with a mission, not to win prizes

but to change the laws of history. (23)

If you're using several texts, then footnote the
quotation, providing the name of the author, title of the
book, publishing information, and page number.

In APA style, provide the author's last name, the year
of publication and page (line in case of verse) numbers in
the text, parenthetically, and include a complete reference
in the WORKS CITED list at the end. Punctuation comes after
the citation. Example:
"Is it possible that dreams may express "profound
aspects of personality" (Foulkes, 1999, 184)?

CONCLUSIONS : Conclusions should stress the
importance of the thesis, give the essay a sense of
completeness, and leave a final impression on the reader. An
effective conclusion might answer the question "So what?" It
might synthesize (not summarize) the points. Or it might echo
the introduction, underscoring the larger significance of
your thesis (now that we understand its complexity).

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